Everywhere I go I hear the words muzungu, muzungu…which just means "white person". People would ask me if I was Obama’s sister or if I would stay and live with them. It’s funny to get all this attention…but at the same time I get tired of being the foreigner.
Here is a small Swahili lesson:
Jambo-hello
Karubi- welcome
Habari- how are you?
Pole pole- slowly
Mzuri-good
I am trying to speak as much Swahili as I can…but it’s kind of a difficult language to learn. I will keep working at it though.
The internet here is sooo slow…it’s kind of hard to communicate with the outside world. That’s kind of good- but kind of bad. It helps me to really be here…but then I’m not sure what’s going on outside of my little village of Ntagacha.
This week I have been helping get things ready for the kids. Everything from helping build bunk beds, processing children and organizing kids clothes. There is a lot to be done…and only a few weeks to do it all. Yesterday I was able to go in town to Tarime with Lucy, a local woman here. We had so much fun. We went to the butcher, the meat market, the vegetable stand and bought eggs, bread and milk. It was cool to see where everything came from. However, when I saw that fish market…it made me not want to eat fish. It smelled horrible in there and there was fish juice and scales flying everywhere. We also went over the border to Kenya to buy a few things that we can’t get here in Tanzania. Here it is so easy just to hop from country to country…I didn’t even have to show ID. That would never happen in the states!
I have been doing a lot of cooking here. I like it a lot…but it’s a little tougher. We have to haul in our water, and we don’t have the conveniences like a microwave etc. Things are simpler here, and it makes you all the more appreciative.
The other night our generator broke, and we realized how much we rely on it. We couldn’t use our power tools, our computers ran out of battery and had to do everything by candlelight. It made for a long evening, because it gets dark at seven.
Last week I went out to the village to interview children. There were some heartbreaking stories. There was one boy who has living with his 80 year old grandmother. She was so thin and feeble and could hardly walk. His dad died of cancer and his mom left right after that. He was abandoned and his grandmother can hardly support him. I like to go out to see these children, but it is so hard for me not to bring them all home with me. There are also children as young as eight left alone to care for their siblings all day. It is too much responsibility for a young child. You almost feel helpless, there is no way our small orphanage can help every needy child in the area. That is the hardest thing of all!
Here is a small Swahili lesson:
Jambo-hello
Karubi- welcome
Habari- how are you?
Pole pole- slowly
Mzuri-good
I am trying to speak as much Swahili as I can…but it’s kind of a difficult language to learn. I will keep working at it though.
The internet here is sooo slow…it’s kind of hard to communicate with the outside world. That’s kind of good- but kind of bad. It helps me to really be here…but then I’m not sure what’s going on outside of my little village of Ntagacha.
This week I have been helping get things ready for the kids. Everything from helping build bunk beds, processing children and organizing kids clothes. There is a lot to be done…and only a few weeks to do it all. Yesterday I was able to go in town to Tarime with Lucy, a local woman here. We had so much fun. We went to the butcher, the meat market, the vegetable stand and bought eggs, bread and milk. It was cool to see where everything came from. However, when I saw that fish market…it made me not want to eat fish. It smelled horrible in there and there was fish juice and scales flying everywhere. We also went over the border to Kenya to buy a few things that we can’t get here in Tanzania. Here it is so easy just to hop from country to country…I didn’t even have to show ID. That would never happen in the states!
I have been doing a lot of cooking here. I like it a lot…but it’s a little tougher. We have to haul in our water, and we don’t have the conveniences like a microwave etc. Things are simpler here, and it makes you all the more appreciative.
The other night our generator broke, and we realized how much we rely on it. We couldn’t use our power tools, our computers ran out of battery and had to do everything by candlelight. It made for a long evening, because it gets dark at seven.
Last week I went out to the village to interview children. There were some heartbreaking stories. There was one boy who has living with his 80 year old grandmother. She was so thin and feeble and could hardly walk. His dad died of cancer and his mom left right after that. He was abandoned and his grandmother can hardly support him. I like to go out to see these children, but it is so hard for me not to bring them all home with me. There are also children as young as eight left alone to care for their siblings all day. It is too much responsibility for a young child. You almost feel helpless, there is no way our small orphanage can help every needy child in the area. That is the hardest thing of all!
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